Galba and Otho

-68 AD- Nero was dead, and Galba was now princeps.
   -Nymphidius Sabinus, prefect of the Praetorian guard (from 65-68 AD), was instrumental in shifting support among the Praetorians from Nero to Galba, promising them riches and all sorts of rewards if they opposed Nero.
     -However, when Galba arrived to Rome and was declared princeps, he didn't give a fuck about the promises Sabinus had made to the other Praetorians.  Galba was an OG military dude who didn't believe in bribery, ONLY unquestioning loyalty!
-Before Galba arrived in Rome, he took a month to raise a legion and organize the province (Hispania Tarraconensis) so that it would still be administrated well after he left.
   -He left in charge of the province a dude named Cluvius Rufus, an established senator with zero military experience.
      -He did this because he didn't like having powerful men as provincial governors. 
   -Also, before he arrived Galba received word that Sabinus was drunk with power and was now claiming that HE was the rightful princeps because he was actually an illegitimate son of Caligula.  However, this was simply too much for the Praetorians to swallow, so they ended up killing him.
-Galba was set up pretty well, but unfortunately for him, due to his harsh, uncompromising, brutal nature and leadership style, his legion grew to hate him as they traveled from Hispania Tarraconensis to Rome.
   -Also, it didn't help that he immediately opened his reign with a purge of all those who he had deemed enemies, often without a trial.  He would also sack random cities on the way to Rome for whatever reason.
      -He even had some legionaries killed when they approached him to try and get him to agree to their demands of promotion- thousands were killed, and the survivors were decimated.  That really hurt his support.
   -Galba wasn't necessarily crazy or uncaring, he was just old, incompetent, strict, and totally manipulated by his three advisers.
      -It also didn't help that by the time of Nero's death, Rome was completely broke due to Nero's reckless spending.
         -Galba made matters worse by seizing various private properties and then auctioning them off, but a lot of it was just bought by his advisers (who were growing more and more wealthy during this time, of course).
            -He also refused to start up the free grain allotments to the masses (which had been cancelled by Nero in order to pay for the damages caused by the Great Fire), so now pretty much EVERYONE hated Galba.
               -In fact, the legions in Germania began to revolt, hailing the governor of Germania Superior, Vitellius, as princeps!
-Anyway, Galba was already old, so the big question was- who was going to replace him?
   -He wasn't married and had no kids (he was most likely a homosexual).
-We already know how the rest of Galba's reign plays out (see the earlier post "Three Emperors"), so just refer to that for more info.